Prelude To Destruction: Dark Angel Prologue-Ch. 5
by Nightsong
Summary: It begins... 10,020 years before the events of Xenogears, Darrell Shanning narrowly escapes his dying planet as it is destroyed by a Lavoid. This, the first 5 chapters, follows his actions of vengeance across the galaxy. Like everyone out there says, pl


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Dark Angel

Prologue

By Nightsong

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"The calamity from the skies. The Lavoid. The possessor of power. The creation of chaos, from both within and beyond our bounds of space and time.

"The Lavoid Grendel crashed upon our planet Zion in the intergalactic year of 1016, during the planet's medieval era. The calamity was soon all but forgotten, and by 1400, only a crater along the southern coast was left. 

"The Lavoid race is an insidious one, an intergalactic race of parasites… but perhaps they are more than even that. There are rumors that they themselves are the dark Ethereal gods of our universe, and perhaps even of others. 

"The Lavoid remained dormant upon our planet for millennia, harvesting nutrients and gathering DNA, to create a more perfect version of itself in it's offspring. Then, in the year 4500, at the onset of Zion's space age, it felt it had completed it's task. It was our own fault, really; we'd killed off so many of the planet's lifeforms in making a technological society that Grendel hadn't much work to do.

"We discovered his presence almost too late, and, in some ways, far too late…"

--Excerpt from Deus: Our Beginnings by Darrell Shanning.

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Darrell Shanning sat on board a small space freighter docked in the fifth quadrant of Zion's main space port, searching desperately through a small manual for something vital. He was a man about 22 years old, with short grey hair and green eyes. He was something of a bookworm, as could be told from his somewhat slight frame, but the blaster pistol hanging at his side had obviously seen a lot of use. He wore a black set of pilot's fatigues, and was ready for the task at hand. With him was his best friend Terra Lyles. She was around 20, with long purple hair that flowed down to her waist and icy blue eyes. She wore a similar outfit to Darrell's own. Her hands gripped the freighter's control stick, her knuckles white from the amount of pressure she was applying

Darrell looked at the control panel before them, and, noticing something, frantically motioned at Terra..

"Flip the radio back on! We have to be able to hear if they let us go off-planet, especially if I can't find anything in here!" Terra, nodding, immediately switched on the device.

The city of Asgard was in a state of evacuation. The entire planet was in a state of evacuation, really. The worst of all calamities had been discovered, something unthinkable. 

A lavoid, which had been code-named Grendel by the scientists of Zion – scientists who were almost certainly already off-planet, Darrell thought bitterly – had been discovered beneath the planet's surface. Normally, this alone would be cause for no small amount of alarm. Even worse, though, the scientists had also learned that this Grendel had already begun his ascent to the surface. When he made it up… the entire planet would be wiped clean of life. The chances of survival were astronomical, Darrell knew. 

And worst of all, the evacuations were being handled in the worst way possible. 

  
At first, there had been a mass panic and a run for the ships. It had taken Darrell and Terra nearly an hour to get to their freighter alone. The cities had become incredibly dangerous, with people driven mad by the fear looting stores and killing innocent bypassers.

And then had come this insane amount of regulation on take-off. It hadn't existed for the first ten minutes after the evacuation signal was given, but there had been nearly 500 wrecks, all fatal, reported directly afterwards. Apparently the thousands of ships simultaneously trying to take off had caused too much traffic in the skyways, with nowhere to move, and no way to maneuver on-planet if there had been. 

The regulations were worse, though, and the people left to oversee them knew it. There had been a lockdown performed on all ships, meaning that the engine of their freighter wouldn't even start itself until they were granted clearance. Also, they were only letting three ships go at a time. It was a ruinous plan, and a suicidal one. The time until Grendel surfaced could number in hours or seconds.

"That's it!!!" Darrell shouted, smacking a finger down on a diagram in the freighter manual he'd been looking over.

"What? What?" Terra asked, peering over his shoulder curiously – and desperately, to tell the truth.

"I've found the manual override to the government's control lockout on the ship!" Terra's eyes widened.

"That's in the manual?" She asked incredulously, scared to get her hopes up.

"Well, kinda. It tells where the chip's located, in a rather roundabout way. If we reroute power around engine four, it should cut it off entirely."

"That will give us less power to break free of Zion's gravity." Terra said, even as she began to move over to the control panels in the tiny freighter.

"If we have to wait on the beauracrats to let us go, I doubt we'll have to worry about our ship's power supply." 

Terra nodded gravely at that, and set to work rerouting power. After a few minutes, they'd succeeded, as was made very apparent when a small light started blinking on the ship's console.

" Darrell yelled out, looking at the panel. The light meant that Zion security had been alerted to the fact that the chip had been shut down. "Terra, start the engines, and fast! If we don't hurry, we'll have a squad of soldiers on our backs!" Terra complied without speaking a word in return, immediately strapping herself in as she flipped several switches to launch.

After but a few moments, the launch was complete, and they flew straight up out of the docking area, the engines that were running pushed full throttle. 

Just as they reached wide open sky, four ships appeared on the horizon. These were not evacuees, though. They were police squadrons, heading straight for Darrell's ship. For a moment Darrell relaxed, figuring there wasn't much the planet-bound ships could do, until they did something rather unexpected.

They opened fire on the freighter, laser cannons spewing green energy. 

"Evasive maneuvers, Terra! I'll log on the weapons systems." Terra glanced at him for but a moment, terror in her eyes. The protectors of Zion were attacking them, trying to kill them! What was worse was the fact that they'd likely succeed. The freighter had but a few cannons on it, and they were outnumbered four to one.

Terra sent the freighter into a barrel roll, thus avoiding the first blasts, even as Darrell pulled up the ship's targeting system. Getting a bead on the faster police craft proved difficult, though, as they zipped around the freighter at speeds a true spacecraft couldn't pray to attain while gravity-bound.

The four ships completely surrounded the freighter, and prepared another volley. Darrell whispered a silent prayer. He knew there was no way that even Terra could dodge bolts coming from four different directions at once, not while gravity-bound.

It was all over. Darrell closed his eyes, and prepared for the void, when a sudden noise shocked him. There was a rumbling like an earthquake coming from the ground below, but it was so loud that it seemed to cause even the freighter to shake with it. 

"Oh my lord." Darrell whispered, as he jumped from his seat to a nearby port window. What he saw there would remain with him for the rest of his life. 

About half a mile from the Asgard spaceport, Grendel had broken the surface, ripping apart about a quarter of the city in that action alone. He had a great, spiny shell, and would have almost resembled a porcupine, except for the fact that these spines were barbed and twisted in intricate patterns, giving the Lavoid a sort of dark beauty. He was a crimson color, the color of blood. It seemed all too appropriate to Darrell. 

Forcing himself to look away from Grendel for just a moment – for the beast had somehow captivated him, like an animal stopped dead by the headlights of an aero-speeder – to motion to Terra.

"Hurry! It's started! We have to get off-planet, NOW!!!!" Terra didn't even nod, but hit the thrusters and gripped tight the controls. Her face had flushed to the same shade of white as her knuckles.

The police ships made a rather pathetic attempt to follow, but it was mingled with their desire to flee to the far corners of Zion and failed almost immediately.

Darrell looked back at Grendel, horrified as he saw a number of the spines on his back pull backward, bending at hideous angles to each other, revealing only darkness beneath. As they did, an almost supersonic humming noise pervaded the atmosphere itself, causing Darrell to grab at his ears in pain. The freighter itself lurched as Terra felt the scream tear through her, but she managed to keep it aloft and on course.

Then… the pools of darkness on Grendel's back took on a fiery glow. Darrell's eyes widened as he realized what the Lavoid was doing.

"Hurry!!!!!" he screamed, though he didn't recall trying to do so. The cry had seemed to come from something deep within him, and the voice that had created it hadn't even sounded like his own. His entire frame shook with fear, which was odd, since Darrell wasn't a cowardly man.

The young man watched as the glowing areas exploded into fire, into rays similar in ways to a laser cannon, but somehow different at the same time. These rays didn't move in a straight line, but arced up and over, until they came back down upon Zion and seemed to splash like a liquid over the landscape. It was obvious that these rays were not liquid, however, as they rippled outward, setting aflame some buildings and disintegrating others. Soon the red glow pervaded the entire horizon, which was becoming ever-larger as the two came near to getting off-planet. 

Just as his despair seemed to reach it's limit, another jerk inside the ship drew his attention. He turned to find Terra struggling to keep the control stick on target, even as he heard the engines sputter and whine.

"What's going on, Terra?" he said, even as he ran back to his copilot's chair and started looking over various monitors.

"It's that fourth engine. Without it, it doesn't look like we have enough power to break atmosphere." Terra's voice was grim and resigned, and Darrell realized that the woman could be going into shock.

"It HAS to work! Look, I'll reroute all power into the ship's engines. You just keep us in the air, okay? If we don't make it now, we're dead!" Darrell tried to sound calm for Terra, but he failed miserably, his voice trembling. 

He then sprang into action, his fingers flying over a keypad before him. He drained every ounce of energy in the particle shields and wired it into the engines, knowing full well that this would likely cause irreparable damage to the shield systems, but not really caring. He then altered the laser cannon's energy flow-rate by 50%, and drained that into the number 1 engine. 

By this point, the engines themselves sounded as though they would go into a stall, but the additional energy had overloaded them as well. With a final squeal, they burst free of the gravitational pull of Zion into the cold depths of space. Just as they pulled far enough away to avoid orbiting the ruined planet, the engines went completely dead. Darrell sighed in relief mixed with disbelief, and let his head rest on the console before them. Terra finally let her grip on the controls relax, and went limp in her chair.

"Zion… it's really happened." Terra said, mostly to herself, and looked over at Darrell.

"Our entire planet… wiped from existence. So many millions of people wiped out. So much raw… power." Darrell stood up as he spoke, and looked out of the porthole of their ship. The red glow which had encircled the entire globe of Zion was beginning to fade, leaving behind it fires visible even from space. The great forest of Shinare, last haven of ecology on Zion, was burning, the fires that dotted the 4000 mile glade burning with a cold light.

"What do we do now, Darrell?" Terra asked, tears gleaming in her eyes as she, too, saw the extent of the destruction.

"What can we do?" He said despairingly, still staring at the burning, wrecked planet he'd once called home.

****

Dark Angel: Xenogears Episode I

Chapter 1: Genesis

By Nightsong

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Torlose, The Planetary Union Headquarters. 

Over five thousand senators had gathered at the great council building of the Planetary Union, in an audience chamber spanning 20 square miles. At it's center – and bottom, really, for the room was shaped like a huge funnel, with multiple television monitors and loudspeakers letting the vast majority of the senators watch the proceedings – stood the High Speaker Genghis Varr, elected from the capital planet Torlose itself, and one of the Zion senators, an older man named Teryl Vanhele. Both wore the blue robes embroidered with golden wire that was customary in the Planetary Union, and dark miters upon their heads. 

"You all are aware of why this special session has been called, my brothers and friends." Speaker Varr began. The entire room was eerily silent. "A great tragedy has occurred. Zion was destroyed by one of the Lavoid race, creatures previously thought merely to be a legend of explorers and space pirates. This Lavoid, this… Grendel, as he has been codenamed, wiped out nearly ¾ of the population of the planet, and destroyed the vast majority of it's military. Only the larger capital ships, evacuated first, survived." Varr paused at this point, to let his words sink in, as Senator Vanhele stepped forward.

"This causes a great number of problems, my friends. First is the obvious loss of life. This is… a disaster, in many ways. We actually fear that this could start a panic, with citizens fearing that their planet could be next. Riots similar to the ones that took place in my planet's final hours could ensue. A collapse of our government is possible, though unlikely." There were muffled whispers throughout the chamber at this point… whispers of fear. Civil war… the undoing of a nation that had taken 800 years to build up. Just then, a new face appeared on the monitors. Senator Kyle Dareth, of the rim planet of J'barr, had taken the floor through his seat's request switches.

"There is an additional concern, High Speaker." He said.

"And what would that be, Senator?" Varr said, somewhat disdainful at the man's interruption.

"The Sol Dominion has become more aggressive as of late. It is the fear of the rim planets that, without Zion and it's military acting as a buffer, that the Sol Dominion will attack the Union."

More muffled whispers, these even more anxious and fearful.

"I fear… that your words could well be correct. However, we must not let our people know this! It will bring about a panic, and such a panic would only guarantee our downfall." The senators in the room assented to this, some simply nodding, others vocally speaking their agreement. "These are dangerous times. We need a plan, or our downfall is assured."

At this, Senator Vanhele stepped forward again. "Speaker, I believe I may have such a plan, should war break out…"

*****

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Karis VI, The Blue Moon.

Darrell and Terra sat across from each other at a table in a rather seedy bar called the Blue Moon, drinking a kind of alcoholic beverage as they listened to the horrible 'country' music being played over the jukeboxes.

Both were more than a little bit depressed, though Terra seemed better off than Darrell. As a pilot, she had spent a good bit of time off-planet, and knew how to deal with the feelings of loss and separation she was going through right now. The fact that her family had died in a plague but 14 years ago, with her there, only aided her in dealing with this. Still, she was drinking more than her share of the liquor.

Darrell, on the other hand, was filled with alternating rage and despair. He'd been orphaned at a young age, so he, too, had no family to mourn, but… he'd always hoped he'd find them one day. The chances of that ever happening had just become astronomical. On top of that, he'd only been off-planet about three times in his life, and he was having trouble adjusting.

They weren't alone in the bar, though. It was filled with refugees from Zion – for rescue ships from the Planetary Union had come in and picked up several of the stranded ships, such as Darrel and Terra's – as well as some mercenaries and traders. It was easy to tell the refugees from the locals, as the former had spent much of their time weeping, yelling curses, and buying thousands of credits' worth of beer.

"There just has to be a way to destroy that thing! There has to be!" Darrell said to himself, between drinks of beer. "But… there's so much power within it…" Terra put a hand on Darrell's shoulder. The two had been fast friends ever since they'd met in an orphanage 12 years ago, after Terra's parents had died in the plague. When Terra had heard the evac order, she'd gone to find Darrell before she went to her ship.

"Darrell… I know you want to destroy Grendel. So do I. But… you have to realize that we're just humans. The Lavoids, on the other hand…" Darrell shook his head furiously.

"No!! It is said that even the Lavoids started out as nothing, as the creations of humans!" Terra knew well of what Darrell spoke. The legend that Lavoids had been created by humans as a kind of weapon on the almost mythical planet Earth, supposed origination point of humankind. However, Earth lay almost all the way across the borders of the Sol Dominion, if it truly existed, and no one from the Union had seen any of the Dominion in a period that stretched almost longer than the time that the Union had even existed. 

"There must be a way to destroy Grendel… There must be a power to equal the Lavoids." His words were quieter now, for they had drawn the attention of a few people in the bar. An undesirable kind of attention, with the kind of company that was around them. 

As if to show Darrell that his efforts to subdue himself were without merit, a large human walked over to their table and sat down. He was probably about 6'7", and easily could have weighed 300 pounds. He had long brown hair and brown eyes, eyes that seemed to look everywhere at once. A blaster rifle was slung across his back, and he wore it with ease.

"Are you a seeker as well, friend?" Darrell's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Are we friends, then, sir? And just what is a 'seeker'?" The man grinned, though there wasn't much humor in it, and proffered his hand.

"I believe we could be, sir, if we seek the same thing. I am Cynewulf." Terra raised an eyebrow.

"You don't have a last name, too?" her words were sarcastic, but they didn't seem to affect Cynewulf's disposition in the least.

"Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. It matters very little. What matters is the search." 

Darrell sighed. "Again, this 'search' and 'seeking' bit. Just what are you talking about?" 

"Why, the search for the ultimate power, of course! The search for a power capable of destroying even the Lavoids, even Grendel." Darrell's eyes widened, as did Terra's.

"There is such a power, then?" Darrell said, still attempting to take Cynewulf's words with a grain of salt.

"Yes, there is, and I believe I may have discovered what it is. But," he continued, looking about him suspiciously, "We should not talk here. As the saying goes, the walls have ears. Let's talk about something else for a while, then you can come to my ship later, eh?"

Darrell shrugged. "You can talk if you want to, I guess."

The three ended up talking over all sorts of things, ranging from the weather on Karis VI to how horrible the destruction of Zion had been. By the time Cynewulf was ready to leave, Darrell found he liked the man quite a bit. He was somewhat jovial, though not gullibly so, and more clever than he looked at first glance.

"So, will you talk to me about the search later?" he asked hopefully. 

Darrell nodded. "Yes, certainly."

Terra shook her head. She too had enjoyed their chat with Cynewulf, but knew better than to trust how things seemed at first glance. "Darrell, this is insane. He's just trying to lure us into private so he can kill us, or rob us, or something equally cruel."

Darrell, though, didn't even seem to hear her. His eyes had a faraway look to them, as though he was picturing avenging the people of Zion, and of the countless other planets Grendel had undoubtedly destroyed.

"When should we meet you, Cynewulf?" The big man smirked at Terra.

"As I mentioned earlier, we will talk on my ship. It's not too far away from here. Meet me at hangar 647 in… say… an hour. I suppose you might have some personal possessions to get, and you may not have time to go back after you here what I would suggest." Darrell nodded, and the man known as Cynewulf left the bar. 

"You really want to do this, Darrell? It seems more than a little risky." Terra's words were spoken partially out of habit to argue, because she knew how stubborn Darrell was. Once he made up his mind on something, there was no convincing him to do otherwise.

"Terra, just what do we have to lose?" 

*****

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1 hour later…

Darrell and Terra stood before a rather large spacecraft, one with a huge assortment of laser cannons and even gravitonic weaponry mounted all across it's hull. The ship itself wasn't all that impressive, probably due to the amalgamation of circuitry that laced it, but one could tell that it contained a good deal of power.

"Custom-built, it is. Welcome to The _Blade_." The voice startled both of them, and they whirled about, Darrell's hand on his pistol, and Terra's fists raised. Though she didn't look the part, she was an experienced martial artist. 

Her skills would not be necessary, though, for it was Cynewulf who stood before them. In his arms was a plastic bag filled with foodstuffs.

"I'm glad to see you came. Looks like you might be cut out to be a seeker, even." As he spoke, he pulled out a small control device, and punched some buttons on it, causing the airlock of his ship to open to grant them entrance. "Please, do come in. It's not much of a ship, but it's more comfortable than standing out here." The two nodded in acceptance, and followed the large man in.

They were greeted upon entrance with a small living area, such as wasn't found on most more modern spacecraft. They were rather costly, and – according to some – a waste of space that could be used to hold engines. Cynewulf disappeared for a moment into the next room, which appeared to be a kitchen, then came back and sat down in a wooden chair, throwing his rifle down into a rack to his side.

"It occurs to me that I don't even know your names… how rude of me not to have asked back at the bar." 

"I'm Darrell Shanning, and this is Terra Lyles, formerly of Zion." Cynewulf nodded.

"And you wish to learn of the power?" Darrell nodded eagerly, even as he sat down across from the older man. Terra remained standing, her arms crossed, but she too listened intently.

"Very well, then. It is a long and complicated story. Perhaps it would be best to begin with this question: have you ever heard of the Finori?" Darrell shook his head, confused; Terra simply shrugged. "I didn't think so. Very few have. They are a multi-dimensional race of shapeshifter… I suppose one could call them a wave existence, in scientific terms." Darrell cocked an eyebrow.

"What?! Multi-dimensional existence? Scientific theories have concluded that such a thing wasn't plausible!" Cynewulf shrugged.

"You say not plausible, and that is true. However, it is possible, and it is the case. The truth of it lies in the term wave existence. You are, of course, familiar with such waves, such as are present in electro-magnetic radiation?" Darrell nodded. "I thought you might. You look well-read. Well, these wave existence creatures… the Finori, as I told you… work in the same way as this radiation, but they pierce the very bounds of the Multiverse."

The theories involved in that statement boggled Darrell's mind, as had this term 'Multiverse' that Cynewulf had used. "How… is it possible for such a creature, being sentient, to exist on multiple planes?"

"It's quite simple, really. They must bind themselves, or 'anchor', to something on one plane to be self-aware, for otherwise, as you said, their existence would be spread too thin. And here's where the part about the ultimate power comes in.

"The anchoring process requires that the Finori exert a great deal of energy, and give a great deal of their life-force into an object. The objects they bind themselves to are thus given incredible abilities." Darrell's eyes widened.

"All of the forces associated with such energy… incredible." The young man's words were mostly to himself, but Cynewulf nodded in agreement anyway.

"Indeed it is. The recorded examples of such anchorings have all been to rather inert objects, such as swords and the like. The result was an explosion of ether-type energy, which I'm sure you've heard of."

Darrell had indeed heard of ether energy. It was but legend in the Union, where all was technology-based, but there were confirmed reports of 'magic' being used by members of the Sol Dominion. If they had knowledge of this anchoring process, it was suddenly obvious just how they'd gained that power.

"Thus, anyone equipped with such Finori-powered weapons would gain supernatural abilities, perhaps even to a large enough extent to defeat a Lavoid." 

"But just how are we going to find a Finori, if they exist 'in every dimension', like you said? They can't be easy to find, or we would have already heard of them." Cynewulf nodded at this.

"Truly, it is incredibly difficult to come upon them, and almost all recorded examples of their existence come from within the Sol Dominion. However… I know of one Finori that is within even our reach, but I had not the strength of numbers to consider going after it before."

"Why not? Travel within the Union is unrestricted." Terra still seemed doubtful of the man, mostly because most of the scientific mumbo-jumbo he'd just spouted meant very little to her.

'That's because this Finori isn't within the Union. It's in the Sol Dominion." Darrell's eyes widened yet again, which seemed impossible.

"Are you insane? No one goes into the Sol Dominion and comes back alive! Their border patrols are beyond huge!!!" Cynewulf nodded.

"Indeed they are. However, this planet is located right along the rim. I learned of the Finori there from a trader I have… associations with from time to time. It is possible to make planetfall, I know. However, the Finori itself is located within a governmental facility, impossible to get to without coming into direct conflict with the Dominion." Terra snorted. 

"You must be insane if you think we're going to pick a fight with the dominion."

"Now wait just one moment, madam. I have a complete plan. The trader I know on the planet… which is known as Yrrs II, by the way… has helped me in my escape plans. Once we get in and get the Finori, I know just how to get out and back off-planet. Thing is, there will be a few guards with the Finori, and we'll have to get rid of them."

"Where's the guarantee that the Finori will even come with us?" Darrell asked.

"It seems it's being held prisoner by the Dominion… something they've done is keeping it from removing it's anchor on a weapon there, and it's bound to it."

"And just how are we going to help it in that?" 

Cynewulf smirked. "We destroy the weapon it's bound to, of course." 

Darrell rested his chin in the palm of his hand, and closed his eyes, thinking.

"I think you can be trusted. All of the theories you've put across make sense… and what's more, you have nothing to gain by lying to us. I'll go with you, if it means I can get a shot at Grendel." 

Terra sighed deeply, and looked up at the ceiling. "And I don't think you can be trusted. I think you're a double-talking con man, but Darrell's right. You don't have anything to gain by lying to us. Besides, I can't let the guy go off on his own, even if you are lying." Cynewulf's smirk changed to a broad, guileless grin, and he nodded.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart. We'll leave in the morning, then, eh? Believe me, you won't regret this!" With that, the large man started to hurry off into the pilot room, undoubtedly to fine-tune some of the controls. As he did, he seemed to think of something and turned back to the two. "Oh, and you can sleep here if you want. There're some guest quarters towards the back… and there are manual locks on them, Miss Terra, in case you still don't want to trust me."

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"The wave existence… the second foundation of our principles, for only the Lavoid could surpass Zohar…" – From The Wave Existence by Darrell Shanning.

****

Dark Angel: Xenogears Episode I

Chapter 2: Exodus

By Nightsong

Mox Garel looked out into the icy black depths of space, yawning as he did so. Being a border pilot for the Dominion was certainly boring work. Sure, he got to fly one of the coolest fighters in the fleet (it was even equipped with it's own quark destabilizer), but he got to fly it around in the middle of nowhere. It was much like being given a being given a beautiful sword, then being told to use it to mow the lawn.

Still, the job payed well, and it kept him away from home, where his nagging mother – who thought he should have gone into politics – lived. That alone was worth the cost of boredom.

Yawning again, the young man scratched his head, straightening his short black hair as he did so, and leaned back, fully prepared to take a nap. Just as his eyes closed, an alarm screamed inside his craft. He immediately opened them wide and leapt straight up in his seat, just in time to see a rather old and bulky looking craft go flying off into the distance. He cursed and immediately flipped on manual piloting.

He knew there was no excuse for having let the ship get past him. It had more than likely been on radar screens for around ten minutes, but Mox hadn't been paying much attention to them, so intent was he on being bored. 

He supposed he should probably report this, as it would cost him his life if such a ship were to land on a Sol planet, but it would cost him his job TO report it. Cursing again, he flipped on the primary and secondary engines of his craft, and took off in pursuit of the larger ship. If he could take it out before anyone realized that it was a Union ship, no one would have to know what had happened. No one.

*****

"Ha! Pilot must've been asleep there! Did you see how his ship jerked around right after we passed him? Ha ha ha!" Cynewulf was exuberant, more than thrilled at how easily they'd gotten past the border patrol. "It was, of course, a result of my incredible piloting skills. I probably didn't even show up on radar, I was moving so fast." Terra rolled her eyes at that, and Darrell opened up a book on genetic theory. It had been like this all day, ever since Cyne had found out that Terra was a pilot. The man took every opportunity to show off the fact that he was, as he put it, 'the best frickin' pilot in the Union.' Darrell was very, very glad that he'd thought to take some of his precious books with him when he evacuated.

"Maybe you didn't show up, Cyne, but the guy knows you're there now. He's pursuing us at… what the heck?! Can ships go that fast?" Terra was stunned. The rate of speed the tiny border ship was going could only be attained with a 15 engine ship, at least by Union standards. 

"Terra, the Dominion's years ahead of us, technology-wise. What seems impossible to us is commonplace to them. But you're still right. I didn't expect him to be moving that fast either." Darrell stretched out, and sighed.

"So… we're completely doomed, and the entire border patrol is coming down on our heads? Sounds nice." Cynewulf cocked an eyebrow at the younger man, but he'd already gone back to reading his book.

"Actually, it doesn't look like it. He's probably afraid of what'll happen to him if his unit finds out he let someone get past him." As he spoke, another blip popped up on radar, though it wasn't a ship. A straight reddish line was quickly pushing it's way straight to the center of the radar screen. "Oh… crap. Hold on, you two." As he spoke, he twisted the ship around in a wide, twisting arc, ending it with all of them temporarily upside-down while the gravity generator adjusted. Just as they stopped, a blue ray of energy screamed past about a yard to their left. Terra was again amazed.

"You went at least 100 feet out of the range of that laser blast! How did it get that close?!" Cynewulf grunted as he threw on the last of the ship's engines, and yanked the control stick up for a moment, then straight down, causing them to do a flip in place. As they straightened from it, watching another laser narrowly miss, he responded.

"Ether technology at it's finest, deary. Those things lock on to us." At this point Darrell put down his book, and looked at the bluish trail left behind by the laser in interest.

"Really? How does the ether energy affect what a laser is enough to alter it's energy into a wave form?" Cynewulf probably would have smiled under other circumstances, but as it was, he was a bit too busy trying to pull the ship out of a roll.

"Always the scientist, eh Darrell? Anything's possible with ether."

"That's insane. There's always a limit, I don't care what it's for." Cynewulf groaned loudly as he punched the thrust on the ship, jerking the three of them back in their seats. Darrell's book went flying to the back of the cabin.

"No, what's insane is you trying to have a scientific discussion while I'm in the process of keeping us from getting killed!" Darrell, somewhat shocked at the brush-off, sat back in his chair and was silent.

Terra grinned. "Ya know, Cynewulf, I think I'm getting to like you. I've never seen anyone manage to get Darrell to shut up for more than five seconds." Darrell glared at Terra at that, but kept his silence.

"Well, I'd better take advantage of a rare moment of silence, eh? Darrell, I assume you can operate a weapons array, right?" Cynewulf asked, his eyes locked on his radar screen as he pulled the ship this way and that around the ether lasers.

"Of course I can. Where's the control panel?" Cynewulf motioned vaguely over to his right, showing Darrell to a large console covered in flips and switches, with more than a few radar monitors in front of it. The scientist flipped several of the switches, causing the entire thing to blink into life, monitors pulling up various tactical displays.

Flipping on a few more switches, Darrell grabbed a control stick immediately to his left. "Graviton cannons? How did you get a hold of those?"

Cynewulf didn't respond for a moment, then, with a glance that showed Darrell to be waiting patiently for a response, groaned. "It's not important! Just fire them!!!" Darrell shrugged again, and turned back to the monitors.

It occurred to the large seeker at that moment that his younger friend was probably experiencing a bit of shell-shock from the events of the past day or two, and was being a bit oblivious as a result. He resolved to try to cut him a little more slack for a while, even as he narrowly dodged yet another burst of ether energy.

*****

"Now that's piloting, I must admit." Mox said aloud, even as he cursed the laser cannon ports for being so slow to charge. "Stupid ether array. Sure, it makes the lasers more accurate, but when I can only fire one blast every 30 seconds, it's not much of an improvement. I guess I'll just have to kick the speed up a notch." That said, he flipped a series of switches just to the right of the actual steering column, causing the ship to start running at almost double its previous speed.

*****

"Holy… What the heck kind of engines are in that ship, anyway?!" Terra said, her eyes wide as she looked into the rear cameras of the _Blade_. Cynewulf didn't really respond, except for a string of curses that showed he too had noticed the ship's increase in speed. 

"Darrell, fire the cannons, wouldya?!?!?!" he yelled out over the loud humming of the ship's engines.

The young man shook his head. "Not yet… not yet. I don't have a good shot yet. He's weaving around too much."

Cynewulf cursed again. "We have enough energy for more than one shot, Darrell! You can miss!! Just shoot him!"

"Fine… I'll see what I can do." He replied, and squeezed the trigger on the pad before him without so much as a moment to adjust his trajectory.

*****

Mox yelled out loud as an almost invisible pulse of energy tore by within a yard of his ship, pulling his ship off to the left in its wake.

"Crap! Gravitonic cannons… They're screwing up my navigational equipment!" he yelled, frantically adjusting different values on the crazily gyrating radar display in front of him. As he did, a small beep sounded in the cabin.

'Alright.' He thought. 'Stupid thing's finally ready for another shot, and I'm close enough to them now. And not a second too soon. We're almost right over Yrrs II.' 

Then, grinning at his good fortune, he put the weapon's crosshairs right on the large ship in front of him, and pulled the trigger.

*****

An explosion ripped through the back of the _Blade_, shaking the cabin so hard that Cynewulf nearly fell out of his chair. 

"Crap! We're hit!!" He yelled, looking over ship status boards.

"What on Zion?" Terra exclaimed, looking at the data onscreen. "One hit went completely through your shielding?"

Cynewulf shook your head. "I told you two that Ether was limitless. This ship's going to break apart if I keep the engines running for much longer."

"That's inevitable regardless, isn't it, Cynewulf?" Darrell asked. He was no longer sitting at the weapons display, but was standing quietly in a corner. "We're all dead, a day after we decided to go against Grendel. It must be… fate."

Terra shook her head furiously. "Don't talk like that, Darrell! I'm sure that Cynewulf has some sort of escape pod, or something on board we can use to get out! Right, Cynewulf?"

Cynewulf sat there in silence for a moment, then sighed. "Um… I… no. No, I don't. I used to, but I had to scrap it to have the living area, if I wanted to maintain a good amount of engine power."

Terra's eyes widened. "You WHAT?!?! Are you… insane!?!?!"

Darrell shrugged. "Hey, at least we can go comfortably, right? Heck, maybe we'd even have time for a full game of chess!"

Cynewulf stood up and walked over to Darrell, grabbing the young man's shoulders. "Would you quit talking like you don't care?!?! We're in very serious danger here, and you're acting like you enjoy it!!! I mean, it's one thing to be down over what happened on Zion, but if you give up before you have to, you'll never take down Grendel!! All those deaths on Zion will go unavenged!!"

Darrell shrunk back as if he'd been physically struck. "I… I'm… sorry." He said quietly.

"It's alright." Cynewulf returned. "Now, we've got to figure out if there's anything we can do to keep this ship running, if only for a little while. That Dominion ship's still just behind us, too, but he probably figures we're all but gone, anyway."

Terra looked over several monitors, then pointed at something. "What's this? The monitors claim we're just over a planet."

Cynewulf ran over, and studied the charts intently. "That's… Yrrs II, it looks like. I can hardly believe it… we made it all the way here."

Terra cocked an eyebrow. "What? I thought you'd been here!"

Cynewulf looked down sheepishly. "Well… no, not really. I know someone from here, and I've seen pictures of the place, but… I haven't been into the Sol Dominion in a very, very long time."

Terra shook her head, and sat down behind the controls to the ship.

"Hey! What're you doing, Terra?" Cynewulf said as she took the steering column and jerked it off right, toward Yrrs II.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to crash the ship into the planet before we're all sucked into space when this thing depressurizes."

"Can we… survive that?" Darrell asked, obviously shocked at this turn of events.

"Well… it depends on our re-entry point, and on forces of gravity, and a million other things, so… maybe. I don't know."

Cynewulf sighed, and sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "In any case, that's a substantially higher margin than we'd have by trying to keep this thing moving."

Darrell nodded. "Well… I guess I'll try to finish reading Chapter 30 of my book, then."

*****

Mox was interrupted from his reverie of self-congratulations and relief by a rather astonishing sight. The ship he'd worked so hard to chase down and shoot was maneuvering itself to crash right onto Yrrs… and it had already positioned itself so close to the atmosphere that there was no way he could fire upon it without drawing out the authorities, who would strip him of his job… and his head, more than likely.

"No!! No!!! Don't do that!! You IDIOTS!!!!!" he screamed futilely at the ship as he watched it pull through the atmosphere, bound to crash in a forested area on the southern continent.

As it shrunk down to an unfathomable size, Mox smacked his head against the dashboard.

"I… am… so…. dead." He said to himself, looking down. "What's more, those idiots probably survived the crash, too…"

As he sat there, contemplating how long it would be before he was missed back at his post, a thought occurred to him.

A particularly evil thought.

"Obviously, seeing how these guys got past me, they've got to be something important in the Union… So, if I could track them down on-planet and kill them… I'd be a hero for doing it, and they might would overlook the fact that I let them get by. Yeah! That's it!"

Of course, deep down Mox knew that his logic was flimsy, but flimsy logic is as firm as iron for a desperate man.

Nodding to himself, he pulled his ship downward and to one of the spaceports on Yrrs II.

*****

__

Tell me the truth, Darrell Shanning. Why do you seek power?

Darrell opened his eyes. Nothing but darkness, without… and within. He was all alone, in an infinite black void.

__

Tell me the truth, Darrell. Why do you seek power?

Darrell looked around himself, confused. _Power? I… I… I don't really want power._

Tell me the truth, Darrell Shanning. Why do you seek power?

Darrell looked down at the ground. _Because of what the lavoid did to my home._

__

Oh, really? That doesn't sound like the total truth to me, Darrell. Certainly, Grendel took a lot from you… but you aren't the only one. Why do you seek vengeance by power?

Darrell closed his eyes tight. _Because… it's all I have left. The Finori is just the vehicle by which I'll gain it. I don't care about power!!_

I think you do, Darrell Shanning. I think you do. I think it's all you care about.

Darrell looked around himself, angry. _Who is this?!? How do you know anything about me?_

Because, Darrell… I'm a part of you. That bit you left behind.

Darrell's eyes narrowed in confusion. _What? …what do you mean?_

As he thought, a being appeared before him in a flash of light. It's hair was the color of flame, and it's eyes glittered with silvery light, but other than that…

A mirror image of Darrell stood before him. _What… what on Zion is going on?_

The red-haired Darrell shook his head. _Zion doesn't exist anymore, Darrell. And that's part of why I do. You've… bottled up your rage, you fool._

What? No… no I haven't! I'm on a quest now to satisfy that anger.

Pah. Lie to yourself if you will. You go on this quest because I want you to. I am your anger, pure and simple.

Darrell crossed his arms. _And just what are you, then, to control me so much, without me even having a clue?_

The red-haired Darrell rested his chin in one hand. _I suppose you could call me… your Id. All of your pain, all of your anger, everything you've been trying to hold onto, everything you won't let yourself forget, has been given to me._

How… how is such a thing possible? Certainly, I don't want to forget what happened on Zion, but… why would that create you?

Id sighed, and looked up through the endless darkness. _Honestly, Darrell… you think I was created by the destruction of Zion? You should know better than that._

If not by that trauma, then… what?

Id turned from Darrell then, and started to walk away. _You already know, deep down… Darrell. Think about it. And when you think you're ready to face truth… call upon me._

As he walked away, the darkness began to… darken, as strange as that seemed. It also seemed to take on a tangible weight, and it forced Darrell to the ground, forced the breath from his lungs, forced his eyes to close shut on this strange half-world.

*****

"Oh, you're finally awake? Thank the fates!" Darrell opened his eyes to the voice, and… grinning visage of Cynewulf. He started to sit up, but a throbbing head soon stopped him in his tracks.

"Ooh…. Where are we, Cynewulf?" Darrell asked, trying to look around himself. They were in some sort of large bedchamber.

"In the house of the trader I told you about the other day, on Yrrs II. We got lucky, ya know."

Darrell shook his head. "No, I didn't know… where's Terra?"

Cynewulf smirked at the young man, and sat down in a plastic chair near the bed. "She woke up three or four hours ago. She's downstairs chatting with our generous hostess."

This registering, Darrell tried to sit up, causing a loud groan to rip through him. 

"Oh honestly, you worrier, she's fine. We don't need you to get up just yet, especially after that hit you took when we crashed."

Darrell settled for turning his body toward Cynewulf. "What happened, anyway?"

Cynewulf leaned back in his chair, looking up at his ceiling. "After that dominion pilot blew open my ship, we crashed on Yrrs II. Thankfully, we managed to land in a forested area about 80 miles south of here. We still hit pretty hard, though, and you and Terra both managed to crack your heads. Thankfully… again, I managed to come out of the crash mostly unscathed, just a few scratches here and there, and I managed to track down someone who could get me in touch with my trader friend here. She offered to come pick me and you two up, and… here we are, just 12 hours later."

"I've been out for nearly a day? Geez…" Darrell said.

"Well, you probably suffered a concussion. It was a good thing that there were nano-machine medical kits here, or we might've had to risk taking you into a public hospital."

Darrell sighed, and stretched out. He was no longer wearing his old clothes, he noticed, and his blaster pistol wasn't by his side. He was instead garbed in some sort of nylon robe. "Where're my things, Cynewulf?"

"Oh, honestly… they're fine. In the drawer right over there, actually." He gestured vaguely. "Now then, you need to rest up some more, man. We've got a long day tomorrow. Can't be infiltrating Sol Dominion-controlled buildings fatigued, can we?"

Cynewulf waited for a moment, seeing if Darrell would respond to his rhetorical question, but he was answered only by snores.

Grinning, he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

As he walked down the stairs, he was greeted by an anxious Terra. "Is he alright, Cynewulf? Is he?"

Cynewulf waved off her question. "Yeah, he's fine. Sleepin' now. Now then," he continued, apparently deciding that discussion over, "Where's Meryl?"

As he spoke, a tall woman walked into the room. She had long hair that looked like it was made of spun silver framing her hunter green eyes. She wore long greyish-green robes with golden wire adorning them at most every place where the fabric ended. "I'm right here, Cynewulf. Is your friend going to be well, then?"

Cynewulf nodded. "Thanks to the efforts of the illustrious trader Meryl Sara, yes."

Meryl smiled gently, and motioned around herself. "Why, by all means, take a seat, then. We have not really had a chance to talk yet, and I'm curious to see what you've been up to since we met on Didylos two years ago… and just why you're here now."

Cynewulf nodded, and sat down in a leathery chair. Meryl took a seat across from him, and Terra sat down on a couch nearby.

"Well, Meryl, it's a long story… I suppose I should start with what I did after we met on Didylos."

__

"The concept of the Id… highly controversial? Certainly. Highly doubtful? Certainly. However, as the Seeker Cynewulf once said, 'implausible does not mean impossible.'" – Darrell Shanning, Exploring The Mind and Soul.

****

Xenogears: Dark Angel

Chapter 3: Acts

By Nightsong

"…Tell me again why I'm helping you with this, Cynewulf." Meryl said. She, Cynewulf, Terra and Darrell were standing in a secluded area near the Sol Dominion compound that Cynewulf claimed contained the Finori.

"Well… because I already told these two that you were helping me, for one thing… for another, because it's in your best interests. You remember what Grendel's kind did to you… to so many people."

Meryl sighed, and looked around herself, at the bustling city that surrounded them. "You see this place, Cyne? The city of Phosys. I've lived here for years… and managed to make quite a name for myself. I'm comfortable here, Cyne. What you'd suggest I help you do would take all that away, make me just another Seeker running across the universe."

Cynewulf nodded, and sighed, looking around himself. "You're right, Meryl. This place is beautiful, wonderful. Darrell here's undoubtedly been taking notes the whole time, trying to research every bit of it." Darrell seemed a bit uncomfortable at his involvement in the conversation, and quickly put a small piece of paper he'd been writing on in his pocket. "But… you know the goal of the Seekers, Meryl. Apart from organizations like the… mythological LEA, we're the only resistance against Lavoids."

Meryl shrugged. "And just how many Lavoids have the Seekers brought down, Cyne? Zero, last time I checked. The only thing we ever manage to destroy is our own lives."

"That may be true, madam, but," Terra cut in, "if what Cynewulf's saying about this Finori thing is true, then we have a chance to bring one down. Don't you care about that at all?"

"Well, of course I do, but…"

"Please." Cynewulf pleaded. "You know I don't want to… you know how I am… but I'll get down on my knees right now and beg for your help if I have to. We need you to get into this place, we need you to get the Finori. Please, as one Seeker to another… help me, Meryl!"

"I…okay, Cynewulf. I'll do this for you… for the hope I used to have."

Cynewulf grinned broadly and clapped Meryl on the shoulder, causing her to rub it in pain. "Geez, Cyne… it might be more convincing if you didn't break my arm before we get in."

Darrell looked around the city one last time, and up at the tiny white star that served as the planet's sun. "This place is fascinating…" 

Terra shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. C'mon, let's go." 

The four walked over to the computer controlled gate of the S.D. compound, and Meryl punched in a code on a small number pad before her. As she finished, a screen/camera combination lowered itself from some place in the wall, and focused on them. As it did, the image of a Sol Dominion soldier, clad in a blue-black uniform, appeared in the screen.

"Who goes there?" he asked.

"Meryl Sara the A Class Trader, along with three weapons dealers. We're supposed to speak to the Magistrate today."

"Just a second, I'll check it out…" the soldier said distractedly, and the screen flickered. When it came back into clear view, the soldier spoke again. "The Magistrate wants to know why you brought the weapons dealers with you. He said you were supposed to negotiate in his place."

Meryl waved his explanation off with one hand. "Tell them they wished to speak with him in person about a rebate."

Again, the screen flickered. "Why couldn't they have gone through you?"

"They wanted to speak to him face to face. You know how weapons dealers are."

The screen flickered one last time, and the soldier nodded. "Very well. You're all cleared to go through. I'll send someone up to meet you at the gate. He'll take you to the Magistrate."

The monitor went black, and it and the camera went back into the wall. 

"How do we lose the soldier, Cynewulf?" Darrell asked, nervously fingering his blaster pistol.

"Leave that one to me. Just be ready." The large man replied, stretching his arms out.

After a moment, the front gate opened with an accompanying hiss of air. Behind it stood two men also clad in the blue-black uniforms of the Sol Dominion.

"I'm afraid you'll have to leave your weapons with this man." One of the soldiers said, motioning to the other. Darrell opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by a wave of Cynewulf's hand.

"Certainly, my good men. No problem." He said, and handed over the blaster rifle that had been strapped across his back. Terra had no weapon, and Meryl seemed happy to give over her pistol. 

After a moment of awkward silence, Darrell drew his and casually tossed it to the soldier.

"We understand your discomfort, sir, but we assure you that your weapons will not be harmed." The soldier holding the weapons said, and walked off towards one of several doors used to enter the compound.

"Now, then… if you'll just follow me, I'll take you to the Magistrate now." The remaining soldier said, and began to walk through a large door located at the top of a small flight of stairs directly in front of them. As they walked, some distance behind the soldier, into the hallways of the compound, met every few seconds by soldiers, scientists or other officials, Darrell pulled Cynewulf aside. 

"Just how do you suggest we lose this guard now? We can't very well meet with this Magistrate, can we?"

"Oh, but we can, Darrell. Now keep quiet. I have a plan, you know?" Darrell sighed at Cynewulf's attempt at reassurance and kept on walking.

After several minutes of walking through the winding hallways of the compound, they finally came upon a large wooden door with a sign that read, 'Magistrate Kip Duran'. The soldier knocked on it once, and then stood aside as a voice from within bade them enter.

Cynewulf pulled it open, but let Meryl, Darrell and Terra enter before he did, and even then he seemed to be examining the area.

Darrell, meanwhile, was examining the interior of the office, very impressed with it's furnishings. Computer screens of all sorts covered the walls, and the desk itself seemed to be made of steel. There were no windows in the room… probably for security reasons, but the back wall of monitors had been set to make up an outdoor scene, of a beautiful forest glade the likes of which Darrell had never seen.

Behind the desk sat the Magistrate, who had himself been facing the other way, out into the computer-generated forest. As he heard the door shut behind them, he stood up and turned around to greet them.

"Hello, sirs. I must say, I had not expected to receive four guests, or I would have made preparations to meet in a larger area than this."

Cynewulf shook his head, again trying to take the lead. "It's quite all right, Magistrate. This office is more than nice enough to suit us."

The man smiled. "Quite kind of you, sir…" he trailed off, obviously expecting an invitation.

"Ah, how rude of me not to introduce myself." Cynewulf said. "I am Ian Guardareo," he ignored the curious glance of the others as to his odd choice of name, "and my associates here are Sheena Beatrix and Seth Morris." Darrel cocked an eyebrow as Cynewulf spoke his assumed name, but took it in stride. "And of course you already know the lovely Meryl Sara."

The Magistrate nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you. Now, if we might get down to business…"

As he spoke, he started to sit down at his desk, and as he did, he took his eyes off of Cynewulf for an instant. That was more than enough time for the huge man to nearly jump across the desk and pull the Magistrate close to him, one large arm completely encircling his arms, the other over his mouth.

"Meryl, get the rope out of my pouch, and help me tie his legs. Terra, you get the kerchief I had you take, and tie it over his mouth."

Darrell blinked. "You… you both knew about this?"

Terra nodded. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me, Cynewulf?"

Cynewulf sighed, and as soon as he was able to let go of the struggling Magistrate (thanks, of course, to the fact that he'd been basically hog-tied by Meryl), he responded. "You seemed a bit too panicky about everything. I was afraid you might jump the gun."

Darrell bit back an angry retort, and his lip as well.

"Now then," Cynewulf continued, "What do we do about that guard? He'll still be standing outside the door, that's for certain."

Darrell sighed. "I have an idea."

Cynewulf shrugged. "Let's hear it."

"Okay, first let me see that paperweight on the Magistrate's desk… no, not that one, the metal one." Cynewulf tossed the large statuette to Darrell. It was, indeed, heavy, probably at least 20 pounds. "Okay, now watch."

"Hey, get in here!!" Darrell yelled, moving over to the wall just next to the door. Cynewulf, Meryl and Terra all did a double-take, and desperately tried to hide the Magistrate as the soldier opened the door to the office and walked in…

They needn't have worried, though, for before the soldier could make a sound, he'd been hit over the head with the statuette in Darrell's hands. As he dropped to the ground, Darrell shut the door again and tossed the statuette in a corner.

"That was… a bit rash." Meryl said, letting her death grip on the Magistrate's desk loosen.

"But it worked. Maybe next time you guys can let me in on your plans, so I can let you in on mine." Darrell said, crossing his arms.

"Point taken. Now, we've just got to find the Finori. I'd wager, from the look of these screens, that we can probably look just about anywhere in this place from here." As Cynewulf spoke, he sat down behind the large metal desk, and pulled out the top drawer, revealing a keyboard. As he started typing on it, the screens around them started flipping around from place to place, showing all manner of places, inside the complex and out. After several minutes of searching, they found something interesting.

"Well, wouldya look at that…" Cynewulf said, looking over the monitors. "Looks like a Finori to me, from all I've heard about them. What do you think, Meryl?"

Onscreen was the picture of a rather annoyed-looking creature about 3 feet tall, wearing a long white robe. It was bald, and it's skin was a sick-looking yellow. Still, even through the monitors, there was a certain aura of… power surrounding it.

"I'd say that's what we're looking for, Cyne. Now, where is it?" Cynewulf punched some more keys, and soon enough a floor plan of the entire building came up.

"Not too far… he's apparently staying in an old gymnasium… it's been converted, though… I'll pull up a picture."

The picture on the screens changed to show an overhead shot of a large rectangular room. The floor was covered with sand and rock, though, and a look at the walls showed them to be made of reinforced steel. In one corner, something huge lay dormant. It was impossible to tell what it was, though, for the lights in the room were cut off.

"Okay, then… he's in a room just beyond that place… It's only a little ways from here. If Darrell would be kind enough to put on that soldier's uniform, we should be able to get there without a problem."

Darrell's eyes widened. "Me?!" he asked incredulously.

"Well, it's obviously not going to fit me, Darrell, and you wouldn't ask one of the ladies here to disrobe for you, would you?" 

Darrell turned bright red as he looked at the two. Terra laughed.

"It's okay, Darrell. We won't look."

Darrell shook his head. "Okay…"

*****

After several minutes of roaming the hallways, Darrell occasionally having to salute the odd soldier, they came to what Cynewulf assured them was the entrance to the room they were looking for.

"I'm getting an uneasy feeling about this, Cynewulf…" Terra said, looking about herself anxiously.

"Oh, there's nothing to worry about. What could possibly go wrong?" Cynewulf replied.

Meryl sighed. "The last time you said that was on Vysk VI, eight years ago. I think you remember how that turned out."

Cynewulf looked down and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, well… this is completely different. Besides, the law of averages assures that I'm bound to be right in thinking nothing could go wrong at least every once in a while."

"Oh, let's just go in." Darrell said, pulling open the large door.

They were greeted with darkness upon entering, and the large door quickly shut behind them after they entered.

"Where's a light switch?" Cynewulf grumbled, stumbling along the wall as he felt for it. He didn't immediately find it, but came upon another room. He turned the doorknob and entered it silently.

Meryl, meanwhile, had found the fuse box, and flipped on several switches, flooding the whole area with light. As she did, Darrell pulled out the assault rifle the soldier had had, and pointed it around the room, looking for some sign of life. He didn't find any for a moment, until a door on the far end of the room opened. Out of it walked a tiny being, about three feet tall, wearing a white robe.

"Who are you all?" it asked, looking at them.

"I'm… Darrell Shanning. These two are Terra Lyles and Meryl Sara. Cynewulf's also around here somewhere…" he looked around himself for some sign of the large man.

"Interesting… and none of you are with the Sol Dominion, either…"

Darrell's jaw dropped. "How… how would you know that?"

The Finori shrugged. "I know a lot of things like that. I think I can even guess why you're here… but I can't let it be that easy. After all, how can I know what you'd use my power for?"

"You are who we've been looking for, then?" Meryl asked, regarding the diminutive creature with suspicion.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm called Zohar."

*****

Mox Garel looked around himself, and felt once more to make certain his blaster was still at his hip. _'The Phosys Spaceport… just like I remembered it. Shiny, polished… and chock full of undesirables.'_ Of course, Mox figured he could handle any sort of pickpocket or thief that came up, and even some of the pirate merchants that came through were no big deal when you were carrying an ether blaster, but… he didn't want to draw attention to himself, especially when a quick government background check would determine that he was supposed to be out on the border… and once they discovered that, his entire tale would unravel, along with his life.

__

'First order of business… check the crash records over the past few days.' Of course, Mox figured that the crash of that ship he'd shot at earlier would have made the records, as did most anything entering the atmosphere; at the same time, though, he doubted anything had been done about it. Yrrs II was a border planet, and as such, it's rules were rather lax. It was a small matter for a pirate merchant to slip in unnoticed in an unauthorized zone. Now, if the ship was large, that was a different story, and the pilot in question would have the entire Dominion Military on his back. But the thing he'd shot down was a simple, maybe 6 man ship, so…

He shook his head. He was wasting time, and probably attracting thieves by standing around lost in his thoughts like an idiot. He had to check the crash records, then go to the crash sites, then… the chances of him actually finding him this way were astronomical, but Mox had always thought himself lucky… before this entire situation had proven him wrong, that was.

Shaking his head again, he sighed and walked off toward the data libraries.

*****

"You realize, of course, that I can't just give you my power out of good will." Zohar said, crossing his arms as he floated in place about a foot above the floor. The display, of course, intrigued Darrell, but the man was good enough to keep quiet about it.

"Why not?" Cynewulf asked, even as he loaded a battery pack into a blaster rifle he'd found in the storage room he'd accidentally raided. Terra and Meryl were also now armed, though Terra didn't really like the idea of using a gun.

"Well, big guy, there're a couple of reasons. For one thing, how do I know you guys can be trusted? A lot of people get corrupted badly by power."

"And the other?" Meryl asked.

"I'm still anchored to something else, as you should know, and these idiot Dominion troops have found a way to keep me from simply releasing the anchor… actually, this gives me a good idea."

Darrell cocked an eyebrow. "How… so?"

Zohar grinned and nodded to himself. "This is a great idea! Talk about a way to save time. Well, you see, I've got to test you, anyway. And since you'll have to destroy the object I'm anchored to take me with you anyway, I can just attack you with that! Very efficient."

Terra's eyes widened. "Did you just say you were going to attack us?" 

"Well, yeah. I can't just hand you my power. Like I said, I have to see if you're pure of heart, and all that jazz. Now then," as he spoke, he disappeared, appearing on the far side of the room, "Let's see if you can stand up to the power of Mechagear!" With that, the Finori vanished. As he did, though, the large object in the corner of the room, the thing they hadn't really thought to examine, seemed to come to life before them. It was a huge humanoid robot made of some kind of steel, armed with all sorts of projectile weapons. It started to walk toward them threateningly.

"Oh… my… God…" Meryl said, mostly to herself, as she ran backwards, loading a battery pack into her laser pistol.

Cynewulf pulled his rifle into the ready position and started backing up quickly. "I must say, this isn't quite what I expected when my source told me they anchored it to a weapon…"

Darrell also put his pistol at the ready, and in fact fired the first shot, but the energy seemed to be caught by the huge robot.

"Um… what?" he said, mostly to himself, as he broke into a dead run away from the thing. Terra followed close behind, no longer all that hesitant about carrying the pistol.

"What the hell do we do, guys?" Meryl said when they got a fair distance away, still trying to fire shots at the huge robot. Every single one was being caught by the huge thing.

"Well…" Cynewulf began, scratching his head, "Maybe we could cut its power source?"

Darrell rolled his eyes, and was quickly forced to follow suit with his entire body as a huge anti-tank gun began firing on them.

"Actually… Cyne… wouldn't it," he jumped again, "make sense to think that the Finori's powering it?"

"Well, yeah." Cynewulf said, firing a charged blast from his gun… only to see it, too, caught by the lumbering robot. "But I'd think he'd be anchored to some sort of engine or something, wouldn't he?"

"Good point." Meryl came in suddenly, crouching down under the now-constant stream of gunfire. "Problem is, our guns are useless against that thing. How do you intend to break it open?"

"Better point." Cynewulf replied. "I don't have a clue." As he spoke, it became apparent that Terra had had enough.

"This is ridiculous! If the stupid guns don't work, then we don't use them!!" she tossed down her pistol and began running straight at Mechagear, her fists clenched. Along the way, she somehow managed to avoid a hail of gunfire.

"What is she DOING?!" Cynewulf yelled, and ran after her. He was followed closely by a panicked Darrell. Meryl stayed behind, still firing blasts at the robot from afar.

"They're all insane…" she muttered.

Terra, meanwhile, had actually managed to reach the thing, and was in the process of trying to climb one leg – much to the robot's chagrin, as shown by his shaking the leg up and down trying to get her off – when Darrell and Cynewulf reached her.

"Terra! Get off of there! That's not going to work!!" Cynewulf yelled, both angry at and scared for her.

"And what is going to work, Cynewulf?" She yelled back, still trying to hold on. Doing so distracted her attention, though, and her grip was already loosened when the robot finally stopped blocking Meryl's shots for long enough to flick her off with one finger. She went to the ground quickly enough, and didn't get up. At the same time, though, one of Meryl's pistol shots hit Mechagear straight in the chest, partially ripping through some of its outer armor. Cynewulf ran over to see about Terra.

Darrell, meanwhile, was going through something entirely different.

A surge of anger washed over him the moment he saw Terra go to the ground. Now that the robot was distracted by its damaged systems, that anger transferred into a rush of power such as Darrell had never felt before. He tossed his gun to the ground, and, using the robot as a kick-off point, jumped up to the robot's chest level, landing on one outstretched arm.

"Iri-magari-HAIIIII!!!!" he yelled, and rushed the dented area with his bare fists. They took on a strange purplish glow as he did, and as he punched into the thing's chest cavity, they seemed to move at lightning speed. Again and again he punched, until finally he was forced to jump off of Mechagear's limpening arm.

As he hit the ground in a roll, his vision blurred, and he passed out on the spot.

Cynewulf and Meryl, meanwhile, were left to see the charred and twisted remains of the robot, completely ripped apart.

"Was that… chi, Meryl?" Cynewulf said quietly.

"Yeah…" Meryl said, her eyes focused unblinkingly on the remains of Mechagear.

__

"The test of the Finori… known throughout the Multiverse as one of the singly most dangerous things you can choose to undertake. Even if you do manage to survive it, you'll likely be completely changed by it…" – Meryl Sara, Final History of the Seekers.

****

Xenogears: Dark Angel

Chapter 4: Seeker

By Nightsong

__

Torlose, Planetary Union Headquarters

"It will begin soon… correct?" the man said. He and another person sat in a darkened office room. The shades on the windows were pulled, the door was locked, and the only source of light was a small lamp on a desk.

"I have reason to believe so, Senator. Upon my leaving the planet you instructed me to go to, they had just begun to arrive."

"Then the actions of the Council are too little, too late… I warned them of this."

The second man stood up. He wore a black cloak over grey pilot's fatigues, and a metallic mask obscured the lower half of his face. His hair was a brilliant silver, and flowed wildly down his back.

"I believe you, senator." His voice was cold and quiet, like a winter wind. "But reflecting on would-haves and should-haves gets us nowhere." It was also just as unsettling. "I need to know what your new course of action shall be."

The senator also stood up, adjusting his thick glasses as he did. "I'm sure you do, Grey. I can't just pass orders out every other day, though. You know it's dangerous for us to meet like this."

The man shrugged, his ice blue eyes narrowing. "And yet you say my name so casually. I suggest you tell me what you want me to do, or I'll simply take a wild guess… and I doubt you'll enjoy the forward manner of my actions."

The senator sighed, and looked down at his desk. "Fine, then… understood. If the Dominion's already gotten a hold of the specimens… then I need you to follow them. Monitor what they do to them, and send me any and all data you can take."

Grey nodded, and began to walk out of the room. "Very well, Senator… you do, of course, remember our agreement."

"Of course I do… I still have it in a safe place."

"I'll be expecting to have it in my hands as soon as I have taken this job to its finish." With that, he left the room as silently as he had entered.

The senator sat down at his desk, and leaned back in his chair. Sighing, he pulled his glasses off and covered his eyes with one hand. "God forgive me for dealing with that one… but I have no other option… I hope, in the future, that they understand I did this for the Union."

*****

"Bravo. A truly excellent test, I must say. You all pass with flying colors." Zohar said, teleporting all around the room exuberantly. "And does it ever feel good to be released from that stupid robot!"

Cynewulf looked up at the Finori, and then down at the limp bodies of Darrell and Terra, laid side by side on a cot from Zohar's room.

"Are they going to be okay?" he said worriedly.

Zohar glanced at them for a moment, and shrugged. "Yeah, sure. That girl's fine… and I didn't even touch the guy. Do you know how he did that chi attack?"

Cynewulf shook his head. "I doubt he knows."

Zohar thought for a moment. "Huh. Well, he's got the power anyway, and a pass is a pass."

Meryl rested her chin in the palm of one hand, leaning up against a steel wall. "But just how do we get out of here? It's a miracle in itself that the fight didn't bring the entire compound down on us."

"Actually, it's not that surprising. These chambers are soundproofed." Zohar said. "They've been wanting to use the robot for months, but I kept on ordering a test in exchange for my power…" he grinned evilly. "Since then, they've been sending in their elite soldiers about once every week or so."

"And?" Cynewulf asked.

"Well, none of them made it very far. After a little while, they just soundproofed the chamber. I guess it made them feel less guilty to not have to hear them."

"Insane…" Meryl muttered.

"So, you guys are my new masters, basically. Where are we heading? Any place is bound to be more interesting than here."

Cynewulf scratched his head and sat down on the sandy floor of the arena. "Actually, I hadn't planned it out quite that far. All I know is that we need to track down the lavoid Grendel."

"Heh… ha… HA HA HA!!! Good one, Cynewulf, good one!! You think YOU are going to take down a lavoid? What are we talking about here? A Class F? Class D?"

Cynewulf shook his head, and thought for a moment. "Actually, from the reports… I think he's closer to a Class B."

Meryl's and Zohar's eyes widened simultaneously. "Are you totally insane, man?" Zohar asked, looking incredulously at the tall man. "I haven't EVER heard of humans bringing down a Class B… I think my kind helped with a Class C once… but… either way… are you nuts?"

"Seriously, Cyne. I figured that this thing was a Class D, tops, for you to go after it. Seekers just… don't go after high class lavoids." Meryl said.

"Well, I'm going to, and I'd be willing to bet that these two," he motioned at the unconscious pair below them, "will go with me. And Zohar, you're bound to help me out, right?"

Zohar rolled his eyes. " 'Bound?' Sorry, no. I'm helping you out because it strikes my fancy… oh well, what could it hurt? Even if you get yourself killed doing this, I don't have a single problem… besides which, you did me a big favor by unanchoring me from that robot. I'll help you out."

Meryl sighed. "If you're really going to go for this, Cyne, we should at least go to Seeker Headquarters."

"You sure… you want to go back there? For one thing, it's a long way off… and besides, we haven't been there in a good 12, 13 years."

"It's been 15, Cyne, and yeah, I'm sure. Besides which, we can pick up the old weapons that way."

Cynewulf scratched his head. "You know I haven't used a TAG in at least as long as we've been gone."

"So? You'll be a bit rusty at first. I've been practicing with regular blades for a while now. I'll get you back up to speed."

"You really think ether weapons are necessary? I mean, we've got the wave existence here."

Zohar spoke up at this point. "And what are you going to anchor me to, genius? That rifle? Hardly a fitting use of my energy."

Cynewulf looked down at Zohar, a curious glint in his eye. "Actually, I've already got a plan for that… but Meryl's right. We're all going to need the ether weapons, and maybe the Seekers there can help Darrell with his chi abilities."

"Who would've thought we'd find a chi-sensitive human from the Union…" Meryl said to herself.

Cynewulf sighed and stood up. "Nobody, probably, but that's hardly the biggest of our concerns right now. Whether or not anyone saw our battle, the Magistrate and that soldier are bound to have been missed by now, and they'll be looking for us. How in the world are we going to get out of here alive?"

Zohar smirked at that, and teleported five or six times around the two Seekers. "I've got a rather obvious solution to that. You guys have ship here?"

Meryl nodded. "I have a cruiser at the Phosys Spaceport. It should be flight-ready."

Zohar nodded. "Good, good. I'll just teleport the lot of you to the Spaceport. Of course, you may look a bit suspicious carrying around two bodies…"

Meryl shook her head. "I doubt that'll be a problem. Just… teleport me to the spaceport, and I'll show you my ship. After that, you can teleport the rest of us straight to it."

"Good idea… just let me 'shift into a more appropriate form." Meryl raised an eyebrow at that, but the Finori quickly gave an example of what he was talking about. He waved his arm around in a complicated pattern, and was engulfed in a blast of light. When it cleared, he was about two feet taller, and, for all appearances, seemed to be a lizard-based Demihuman.

"There we are." The new form of Zohar hissed. "We shouldn't have a problem this way. Now then, if you'll come over here…" He pulled Meryl over next to him, and concentrated. After a moment, the two vanished entirely.

"Been a while since I've seen magic…" Cynewulf said, sitting down again as he watched over Darrell and Terra. "Can't really say I've missed it, actually, but I'd guess you two would've liked to see some…"

*****

Mox stepped out of the Phosys Spaceport data center, holding a printed picture in his hand. 

'_Meryl Sara… the famous trader. According to this, she picked up some crash victims the other day… from down in the southern forest. Could be anybody, I guess… but I've got a hunch that it's not just anybody…'_ He stretched his arms out, yawning, and looked around him. '_Let's see… according to this sheet she lives about half an hour from here… I could probably hire a cab… Hey, who's that?!' _He looked at his sheet again, then at the woman walking by him, with demihuman in tow.

__

'That's Meryl Sara!' He thought, his eyes widening. _'What incredible luck! And I'll bet that lizard demihuman is the Union pilot, too!! Ha ha ha!!! The great Mox Garel succeeds again!!'_ Mox was so busy being relieved at his luck, he hardly noticed as Meryl and the demihuman form of Zohar disappeared from sight into the crowd.

"Hey… what?! No!!" he cried, and ran after them. They were heading for the docks… _'They must be trying to get off planet!!!' _He thought frantically, running faster. As he did, he ran smack into a tall, green demihuman. It knocked him straight to the ground, and looked at him angrily as he scrambled to his feet.

"Watch where you're going." It said in a low growl. Mox nodded, mumbled some words of apology, and started running again.

All too quickly, he reached the shipyards, only to see Meryl and the demihuman preparing to enter a ship just ahead of them. "Got you now…" he muttered, and started to take off after them. He was stopped by a uniformed guard on his way.

"Hey, wait a second. You can't enter the docks until I see some ID." Mox stared at the man distractedly, still concentrating on Meryl. 

"What? Oh, sure, no problem." He reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet… only to find it gone. "My… my wallet!! Where is it?!!?!" 

As the soldier politely directed him back to the spaceport proper, an image of the tall green demihuman he had run into earlier came into his head.

"That… that demihuman picked my pocket!!" he yelped, and broke off in a dead run. If those others got away from him now…

*****

Darrell opened his eyes to be greeted by the sights and sounds of a space cruiser. Gasping sharply, he jumped up. He was in some sort of small bedroom, complete with bunkbeds. Looking around himself, he saw Terra laying asleep on an adjacent bunk. He looked at her for a moment, then, after determining she was indeed fine – a process that took several long, long moments, or so he told himself – he pulled open a metal door into the ship proper. He was greeted by the sight of a small pilot's cabin, with two people sitting in the front chairs.

"Where… are we?" Darrell asked, looking out into the cold depths of space.

Cynewulf and Meryl simultaneously turned around, looks of shock on their faces. As they did, Zohar appeared from nowhere into a chair right next to where Darrell stood. 

"Good to see you up and about, Darrell. You've been out a good while." Cynewulf said, clapping the young man on the shoulder. Darrell bit his lip in pain at the strength of the blow, but managed not to say anything about it.

"We're about 6 hours into flight from Yrrs II. Our new friend Zohar was kind enough to help us get off-planet."

Darrell nodded at the finori, and took a seat next to him. "Where are we heading?" he asked.

"The planet of Karonne, about another week's flight away from here." Meryl responded.

"Why? What's there?" Asked Darrell.

Cynewulf sighed. "Well… it's a long story, really, and since you're from the Planetary Union, you couldn't be expected to know a bit of it… but Seeker Headquarters is located on Karonne."

"Again with this 'Seeker' stuff. What in the world IS a Seeker, anyway?" Darrell asked.

Meryl flipped a switch on the control panel in front of her, then spun her chair around to face Darrell. "This is a long story… I set the ship on auto pilot for a while, Cyne."

Cynewulf nodded. "Fine by me. Now… where do we begin?" He leaned back in his chair, and rested a hand on his forehead. "You have, I assume, heard of the planet Earth, right?" he asked.

"Yeah… supposed origin point of humanity?" Darrell said, nodding.

"Right. And, of course, also the homeworld of the Lavoid race… the place where they were created."

Darrell's eyes widened. "Yeah, that's right." Meryl said. "The rumors of them originally being meant as a biological weapon are true.

"It's not known exactly when, or how the Earth scientists created them… but they succeeded, beyond their wildest dreams. They made them TOO powerful, in fact…" Cynewulf said.

Meryl nodded. "Over a period spanning a few decades, the Lavoids broke free of their human controllers, and under the power of the Lavoid Queen, the first born lavoid, along with a horde of humans… called Farilii, that had been filled with their awful power. They… completely conquered the planet… made it their own."

Cynewulf sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. "About 95% of the population of the planet was killed within a month of their takeover, and 4% of the survivors from that tried to escape the planet, and were killed in the attempt."

"That left the 1% of people left that were determined not to leave, that were determined to fight the Lavoids. Those are the ancestors of the Seekers."

Darrell blinked. "H-how… is such a thing possible?" he said.

"My father and Meryl's father were born on Earth, in the hidden city of Avalon. They managed to escape chasing after a group of the human farilii… called the Shi' Kari… when they left the planet."

"Shi Kari?" Darrell said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's rumored," Meryl began, "that the Shi Kari are the scientists that originally created the Lavoid race, and the first ones to be wholly saturated with Lavoid energy. No one knows for sure… our parents never found them."

"But they, along with a group of about 30 other Earthlings, came to the planet Karonne… about 40 years ago. Meryl and I were among the first children born upon the home of the new Seeker base."

"Since they left, the Seekers have been gathering knowledge about the Lavoids and Ether energy all over the universe. They had quite a reserve built up when Cyne and I left together 15 years ago… but it still wasn't enough to touch a lavoid by itself. Our parents both died trying to kill one… a Class C… just before we left."

Darrell looked down. "Geez… I had no idea so many people stood against the Lavoids… one question, though. What's all this stuff about 'classes'?"

Cynewulf gazed out the ship's viewport, his eyes seeming to see something far away. "The Lavoid class system… it's said that the Lavoids themselves use it, which is possibly part of the reason we know about it. Basically, it runs from Class F, which is an incredibly weak version of lavoid not even capable of interstellar travel without a larger lavoid to carry it along, to Class S, a Queen… And their power levels and abilities increase exponentially as you go from class to class. So basically, a class S lavoid is 46,656 times as powerful as a class F… which, if you're doing the math, is an incredible difference in power."

"And what class… is Grendel?" Darrell said quietly.

"We think he's a class B." Meryl said flatly.

"So, to answer your next question, Dar," Zohar suddenly piped in, to everyone's amazement, "Yes, you're all insane, and no, you probably don't have a chance of even living through the encounter, much less actually doing any damage."

Darrell sighed deeply, and left the cabin. "I think I need some more rest, guys…" he said quietly. After he walked out, Cynewulf glanced reproachfully at Zohar.

"You didn't have to say that."

"I like to be truthful. It throws people off." Zohar said, shrugging.

__

"To think that we CREATED this race of monsters… this insane plague of chaos and destruction… it simply boggles even the most scientific mind. If there was ever a strong argument against the wages of war, and the wages of simply being human, it is contained within the history of that race." – Darrell Shanning, an early journal.

****

Xenogears: Dark Angel

Chapter 5: Tribulations

By Nightsong

__

Karonne, The Seeker Complex

"This is Designate 5428 requesting permission to land, Seeker HQ." Meryl said into her ship's intercom. They were currently holding over the planet of Karonne, directly above the Seeker Complex on the planet.

"Designate 5428?" The voice of a spaceport controller spoke back. "Designate Sara, is that you?"

Meryl looked over at Cynewulf curiously. "Looks like they still remember us, anyway." She punched the intercom button. "That is correct, control."

"Well, certainly, then… permission to land granted. We'll meet you at the third docking point."

With that the intercom cut off.

"Just how well are you two known out here, Meryl?" Terra, finally having recovered from her injuries several days ago, asked.

"I didn't know that they'd really remember us at all… a lot can happen in 15 years." The former trader returned as she took the ship into Karonne airspace. As they came down on the planet, Darrell found himself looking out the side viewports. 

Karonne was a fairly desolate planet, for it possessed only a very thin atmosphere, a fact made apparent by the large number of craters that pockmarked the planet's surface. The huge Seeker homebase, then, was like an oasis in this desert wasteland. It was a silvery, domed building about 10 stories tall, with four identical spiraled towers extending from the north, east, south, and west points.

"Welcome to the Seeker Complex, friends." Cynewulf said, looking over it with a kind of nostalgia.

As they neared the huge building, a rectangular slot opened in the center of the dome, and a bluish-white flash became visible as what was apparently a deflector shield turned off around the building. Meryl pulled her trader ship through that opening with ease, it seemed, and manipulated it into a spot among a surprising number of ships in a docking area.

When they exited from their craft, they were immediately met by a small group of about 4 people. They all wore simple black tank tops with bulky grey pants, along with boots. On their belts, a strange sort of rod was strapped, along with various weaponry.

"So it is you, Meryl… and I believe I recognize Cynewulf, as well… but who are these other people?" the speaker, an older woman, looked over Darrell and Terra curiously, but her gaze lingered longest on Zohar.

"Aunt Kyra?" Meryl said, looking the woman over. "It is you!"

"And, since Meryl seems to have forgotten your question entirely," Cynewulf said after a moment, "these people are our new friends… Seekers, even."

Kyra looked over the people suspiciously. "We shall see, Cynewulf. Regardless, it has been a long time since we have seen you two. Follow me, and we shall get reacquainted."

"Madam Kyra." Another of the entourage, a young man with sharp green eyes, came in. "Do we really have time for this right now?"

Kyra waved the young man's question off. "Whether or not we do, I'm making time. It doesn't matter how bad things seem, we always have time for family."

The young man shook his head, but kept silent.

"Now then," Kyra said. "Right this way, if you would." With that, the entire group started walking out from the docking area, through a large set of automatic doors into a truly huge area.

Darrell was basically in awe, trying to remember every detail of the place to write down later. While he had expected something like the long, twisting hallways of the Sol Dominion base on Yrrs, he had instead been granted a vision that he never would have expected to find on a planet like Karonne. The ceiling was far, far up, and all around them, vegetation grew around babbling brooks. In the seemingly forested areas in the distance, animals ran between the trees. The only thing that really gave away the fact that the entire thing was inside was the huge enclosing wall of the spaceport, the only one in the entire place that reached all the way up to the ceiling. All of the other rooms in the Complex were more akin to separate buildings, made with a charming and angular architectural design that was wholly unfamiliar to the young man.

"I see you admiring the buildings." Cynewulf said to Darrell as they walked along a stone pathway. "The elders say they're modeled off of a 'Victorian' style, once popular on Earth. In fact, everything here is made to remind the Seekers of what Earth used to be like."

After a few minutes of traveling – which was quite pleasant, due to a constant, windless temperature of about 72 degrees fahrenheit – they came upon a large, three storied building made of a red brick. It fit in nicely among a huge number of trees that were planted all around it.

"My humble home, friends." Kyra said, allowing one of the men in her entourage to open the door for her. As they entered the house, they were greeted with the sight of a perfectly cleaned brownish carpet, with numerous hallways and a staircase leading upstairs. Kyra lead them all through a door on the right to a room that resembled a kitchen. Kyra and her guests all sat down around a circular table, though the other Seekers that had entered with them remained standing, seemingly anxious to be done with this business.

"Now, tell me, Cynewulf, Meryl… who are these people?" Kyra asked.

"Their names are Darrell Shanning," Cynewulf motioned to each person in turn as he spoke, "Terra Lyles, and this small fellow is Zohar. Darrell and Terra come from a planet called Zion in the Planetary Union… their planet was destroyed by a Class B."

Kyra looked down at the table, and shook her head. "A pity, that… and this other?"

Meryl leaned forward in her chair. "Zohar's… a Finori."

Kyra's eyes widened, and the other Seekers standing in the room seemed equally shocked. "A… Finori? Is that, then, what you two have been after in all the time since you left? Are you still wanting to… kill the lavoid that defeated your parents?"

Cynewulf shook his head. "I gave up that quest a long time ago, Madam Kyra. Simple vengeance against the Lavoids is not enough. Meryl and I have spent the past years searching for… meaning in our lives. Meryl may have found some, but I never did. Every time I tried to give up the creed of the Seekers, I was inevitably drawn back into searching out ways to destroy the Lavoids…" the large man shook his head, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know if Zohar's enough to kill things like the class A's back toward Earth, but… I have a plan, and I'm going to destroy Grendel."

Kyra cocked an eyebrow, and rested her chin in the palm of one hand. "Grendel? Would this be the Class B that destroyed your homeland, young ones?" She addressed Darrell and Terra, who gave a short nod in return. "I see. What, then, brought you back here, Cynewulf, Meryl?"

Cynewulf sighed. "Several things. We need access to the old weapons… as well as your engineering labs. We need better equipment if we're even going to manage to _find_ Grendel."

"I'm… afraid that that's hardly possible at the moment, Cynewulf." Kyra replied quietly.

"What?! Why in the name of Earth not?!" Meryl exclaimed, her dark eyes wide in confusion.

"We've had… some rather major problems ourselves, Cynewulf, Meryl… Follow me, I'll explain."

She stood up, and walked out of the room. Cynewulf exchanged glances with Meryl, and, shrugging, followed suite. Darrell, Terra, and the other Seekers followed close behind.

They eventually came to a large, dark room with a computer monitor making up one wall. One of the Seekers sat down behind a smaller computer and typed in several lines of coding. As he did, an image appeared on the large screen.

"This," Kyra began, "Is a floor map of the Seeker Complex. If you'll notice, every sector beyond this point" she motioned to a thinner area in the dome, "is marked in red. Basically, we've been forced to put a lockdown on the entire East Sector of the Complex."

"Why would you have to do that?" Darrell asked, looking intently over the map.

Kyra pointed to a large building marked Weapons Research Facility on the map. "That's why. Two months ago, one of our Seekers came upon a rather powerful weapon on Draconis. It was a rather incredible sword, made of a hybrid of technological and ether energy… basically, rather than simply being powered by the ether, like most hybrid weapons, the ether was simply used to augment an already working energy system.

"Naturally," she continued, "We wanted to study this weapon. If we were able to incorporate such technology into weapons such as, for example, our own TAGs, we would quite possibly have enough energy power to take on some of the lower class lavoids on a fairly good standing."

"What went wrong?" Terra asked, nervously cracking her knuckles as she did. 

"We were unaware that the weapon had an AI system installed until after we had begun the deconstruction process. We linked it to our main systems, and, sensing a threat to its existence, it began taking over our computers, one by one.

"Thankfully, we've been able to cut it off from reaching further areas, but it's been at great cost… basically, we're completely unable to get into our armories, or any of the research facilities. Anyone who has passed through the sealed area has been either immediately killed, or we've lost contact with them after but a few minutes. None… have returned."

Cynewulf looked up at the ceiling, and let out a breath of air. "Geez… Looks like we're screwed, then."

Meryl also shook her head. "What can we do now?"

Terra looked at the two of them, her mouth dropping open. "What, we're giving up, just like that? 'Oh, they haven't managed to stop this thing, so there's no way we can.' Come on!!"

"And just what, praytell, can we do that the other Seekers cannot?" Meryl asked.

Darrell shook his head. "Well, for one thing, we've got Zohar here. For another… look, it doesn't matter if we can pull it off or not. We've been alright so far, haven't we? And… besides, if we give up now, I'll never be able to live with myself."

"Ouch. Good point, Darrell." Cynewulf said, looking down at the ground as he did. "You're right. We have to at least try to get rid of this weapon… there's nowhere else where I can build the weapon I need to."

"Are you all insane?" A Seeker, the one with the piercing green eyes, asked. "There's no way you can get through there alive."

Darrell shrugged. "We're going to try, anyway. We won't give up here."

Kyra, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke up. "You're all… very interesting. I had not thought that two wayward Seekers and some strangers would want to help us in our problems."

Meryl shrugged. "I spent a lot of my life here, Aunt Kyra. I can't just turn my back now."

"Very well, I've decided." Kyra said. "My personal guard, the Seekers here, shall create a diversion at the seal while you enter another way."

Cynewulf's eyebrows shot up. "What? There's another way into the East Sector?"

Kyra nodded. "Indeed… the power grid below us. It shouldn't be as heavily guarded as the gate."

Darrell looked at the onscreen map. "This power grid of yours looks like a maze…"

"It wasn't originally intended for human passage… just as a place to run all of the piping and wiring this place requires… however, it is large enough for you all to walk through."

"It's settled, then." Cynewulf said, stretching his arms. "We'll go in through there."

"My… what trials and tribulations you humans put yourselves through, and all just for the chance to face certain death. Interesting…" Zohar said to himself, drawing annoyed glares from Darrell, Terra, Cynewulf, and Meryl.

.

Mox leaned back in the seat of his ship, and finally allowed himself to relax for the first time in nearly two weeks. It had taken him several days after his initial realization of the fact that his wallet had been stolen by that demihuman to actually track him down, and another four to figure out a plan to get the thing back. 

By then, of course, the demihuman had spent all of the credits in it, and had ditched the wallet itself entirely. It had taken a rather long and painful – on both sides – interrogation to figure out just where the wallet had been dropped. Then… just an hour earlier, he'd finally found it lying in a water-filled gutter in a rather bad part of town.

And now, he got to take a wild guess at where in the universe those others had gone.

"Now… if I were a border-crossing Unionite, where would I go?" He thought for a moment. "There's that great casino on Cheron… and the black market headquarters on Ivirne… but they couldn't really be expected to know about those places, could they? Hmm…" he thought a moment longer, then sat up straight in his seat as a thought struck him. "Of course!! Why would Unionites want to come into the Dominion unless they were trying to do something to our government! They must be heading to the capital on Nova!!!" With that thought in his mind, he flipped on several sets of switches, and began inputting the commands for the quark destabilizer sequence to begin. There was an unmanned, little-known beacon point right near Nova that he could use. 

As the incredible discomfort of being taken apart on a subatomic level began to rip through the young border pilot, he wondered momentarily of what the exact odds were for him being right on their destination. 

Thankfully, he didn't have enough time to come up with an answer, or he probably would have been rather aggravated with himself.

.

Darrell, Terra, Cynewulf, Zohar, and Meryl stood at the bottom of a long stone staircase, along with two Seekers.

"Each of you take one of these." One of the Seekers said, handing each of them a small radio. "Those com-links are each set on the frequency for all of the radios in the Complex. You call for help on those, and we're sure to hear you. We'll also use those to tell you all when the diversion at the gate has begun." He then pulled out two small, rod-like objects from his belt and handed them to Cynewulf and Meryl. "Also, you two will probably want these. While those blasters should work well enough for most of the robots you'll come across, we'd been developing some with shields impervious to them… we imagine that the AI would be making good use of them."

Cynewulf held the strange rod up in the air, and pressed a button on one side of it. As he did, a three-foot-long blue blade of energy shot out of the end. He fell into a fencing stance, and made a few experimental swings with it.

"I'm a bit rusty, but I think I can still handle this thing."

"Good. I believe the diversion's about to begin, so if I might take my leave…" without further adieu, the Seekers ascended the staircase, leaving the group.

"What are those things, Cynewulf?" Darrell asked. As he did, Meryl pressed a small button on hers, causing a matching blade to shoot out. 

"TAGs… Tritanium Arcwave Generators." Cynewulf said rather cryptically, still jabbing the weapon here and there.

Meryl rolled her eyes. "Basically, they harness ether energy, the user's own willpower, and technology to create a blade of energy that can cut through most any type of substance."

Darrell studied the weapons closely. "Fascinating… you'll have to tell me more about them later." 

"Yeah… emphasis on later." Cynewulf said as he switched his TAG off. "Let's get this show on the road, guys."

As they all walked through the dimly-lit hallway, Zohar scratched his head. "Interesting… I thought TAGs originated on Elosia, and yet you Seekers have them… and from what's already been said, you couldn't have possibly seen Elosia… what _has_ Lavos's offspring been up to?"

"What?" Terra asked the finori. 

"Nevermind. Just talking to myself." Zohar returned.

After a moment, the group came upon a large, thick door that had been electronically sealed. On the wall to the right of it, there was an electronic keypad. Cynewulf punched several buttons on it, until a tinny beeping sound informed him that it had been unlocked.

Shortly after that, a call came in on the com-link. 

"The diversion has commenced." A voice that seemed to be Kyra's said. "You can enter the power grid now."

"Affirmative." Cynewulf replied, then cast the small radio into a pouch at his waist. "Here goes nothing…"

The large Seeker punched another code into the keypad, and the door slid open with a hiss of air. They were greeted on the other side with utter and complete darkness.

"Geez…" Darrell mumbled as they entered, the door closing behind him. "Somebody turn on a flashlight."

Terra mumbled agreement, and a moment later, an electric lantern gave off its white glow on the surrounding hallways. It was a rather narrow corridor, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side, with the ceiling located just 8 feet above them. Mostly, the wires and pipes were in good working order, except for a small area just around the door they'd entered through. The walls had been slashed to ribbons, seemingly with some sort of heat-powered weapon, and the door itself had several huge gashes in it.

Looking at that, Cynewulf flipped on his TAG, its blue glow adding to the light of the lantern. Meryl turned hers on as well, adding a green glow to the mixture of colors. Darrell fingered his blaster nervously, and Terra clenched her fists.

"Be on your guard, people." Cynewulf said, looking around. "There could be about anything down here."

As the large man spoke, a reddish-green laser shot right past his head, ricocheting off a wall and nearly hitting him again on the rebound. "Holy…" he said to himself, putting his blade in a defensive stance as he turned to face the direction of the blast. Darrell pulled his blaster out of its holster and fired it a few times… only to watch the red lasers come flying right back at him.

"You know, before I started traveling with you, Cyne, blasters typically worked very well on anything I came across." Darrell observed casually as he jumped out of the way of the blasts.

Cynewulf had no chance to reply, though, for just then a huge robot came into view from out of the darkness. It was about 6 feet tall, and humanoid in most respects – excluding the fact that the knees bent backwards.

Meryl cursed. "It looks like an Avenger, Cyne… and apparently it has that new shield technology we heard about."

Shaking his head, Cynewulf spread his feet out in a defensive stance. "And these things are hard enough to take apart WITH a blaster. Great." 

Avoiding another blast from the Avenger's right gun-arm, Cynewulf rushed in low and swung at the robot's legs. It seemed to anticipate this action, though, and subsequently leapt back several yards, a move made possible entirely by its oddly formed knees. 

Meryl, meanwhile, had ran around behind the Avenger, and brought it down on the thing's head as it leapt back. Her attack was met with a flash of red energy that seemed to slow her attack, and what should have split the robot's head in two merely grazed a sensor in its neck. Meryl barely managed to pull her hand back in time after the ill-fated attack, for the shield was holding onto her blade like quicksand.

The two warriors jumped back, while Darrell, Terra, and Zohar – the former two of whom were feeling rather useless – simply watched. "Crap… that shield is a bigger problem than I thought!" Meryl said loudly, ducking under another blast.

"Yeah, but its attack is a little bit predictable, and it's taking that cannon about five seconds to recharge after each shot." Cynewulf returned, and ran at the Avenger again, trying to thrust his sword into its torso. He was rather shocked when the robot took his left arm and batted the TAG away. While it did damage that arm, it also served to throw Cynewulf off-balance, and the Avenger followed up by bringing his gun arm down on Cyne's wrist. The Seeker cried out in pain, and dropped his weapon. It sputtered out as it hit the ground, but another overhead attack from Meryl allowed Cynewulf to escape a similar fate.

Still, though, they could do no major damage. Cynewulf had picked back up his TAG, and was holding it awkwardly in his left hand as the group was forced to keep on backing up from the robot's onslaught.

"By all the Eternals, and the Ethereals too, you guys are pathetic." Zohar said as his back hit the back wall of the room. "You think you can take on a lavoid, but you come near getting yourself killed in a fight with a robot. Honestly." The finori rolled his eyes, and shrugged. "But still, I'm intrigued by all of you. Here." As he spoke, he pressed his palms together as though he were about to pray. He then pointed them so that his fingers were toward the Avenger, and mumbled a few words. As he did, white energy began oozing out from his fingertips, and shot forward into the Avenger. As it did, the energy shield surrounding it flared red for an instant, then dissipated as the robot itself exploded into several hundred pieces. 

Cynewulf dropped his TAG again as he looked at the thing's broken form, and everyone turned to Zohar in nothing short of complete amazement.

The finori shrugged as they tried to question him. "What? It was just a low-level version of photon blast. What's the big deal?"

Meryl shook her head, and started walking into the depths of the power grid. Everyone else followed silently behind.

__

"Earth… it is at once the most blessed and cursed of places in the universe. It is the home of our race, of our grace, vision and imagination. …However, it is also the home of greed, corruption, and of… the lavoids." - Meryl Sara, Final History of the Seekers.


End file.
